More Americans, enjoying more flowers, more often...

Volume IV, Issue 5 

May 2018

In This Issue ...

  1. Memorial Day Flowers 2018
  2. 2018 Member Meeting Date 
  3. Strategic Planning through 2022
  4. CalFlowers Dues Renewal - Deadline Approaching
  5. Featured New Member of the Month
  6. Transportation
  7. New Members

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

2018 AIFD National Symposium "Discover"
June 30 - July 4, 2018
Washington D.C.

 

2018 CalFlowers Member Meeting
September 11, 2018
Westin Mission Hills
Rancho Mirage, CA

SAF Palm Springs
September 12 - 15, 2018
Westin Mission Hills
Rancho Mirage, CA

SAVE THE DATE:

2019 Fun 'N Sun Convention
July 24 - 27, 2019
Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort
Santa Barbara, CA


 Flower Of The Month:

May flower of the month: Lily of the Valley

The fragrant lily of the valley signifies sweetness, humility, and a return to happiness.


CalFlowers News

Our goal is to communicate on a monthly basis with the membership and interested parties about recent past and upcoming events, program updates, and general information about how CalFlowers is engaging in the industry on behalf of the membership.


 

Memorial Day Flowers 2018

It's less than two weeks to Memorial Day when, thanks to the efforts of the Memorial Day Flower Foundation (MDFF), and the many sponsors from around the country, thousands of volunteers will place between 350,000 stems at 36 cemeteries, most of the National Cemeteries.  Almost every day this month MDFF has received inquiries about adding more volunteers, sponsorships and flowers.  It's entirely possible the Foundation could put up to a half-million stems into the cemeteries it is supporting this year.

Along with TD Bank and Asocolflores, CalFlowers is a Platinum Sponsor at Arlington National Cemetery.  At the Welcome Center, 25,000 visitors will receive a Californian focal flower to place at the gravesite of a loved one. Holland America Flowers is also donating 700 bouquets for the T.A.P.S. children. 

CalFlowers is the event organizer at Miramar and San Francisco National Cemeteries. At SFNC, Mt. Eden is supplying logistic support, and Recology has sponsored the placement of 26,404 flowers - every headstone at SFNC!  Recology has invited employees from LinkedIn and Facebook to help place flowers and welcomes all those wishing to pay tribute on Memorial Day.

At Miramar, Boy Scouts of America and San Diego Imperial Council, will make sure all 12,000+ headstones will be honored with flowers. 

In addition to Arlington National Cemetery, CalFlowers' sponsorship will also support the following cemeteries, providing at least 14,000 focal flowers:

  • Alabama National Cemetery 
  • Idaho State Veterans Cemetery (Boise, ID)
  • Oregon Trail Veterans Cemetery (Wyoming)
  • Ft. Logan National Cemetery (Colorado)
  • Ft. Snelling National Cemetery (Minnesota)
  • Houston National Cemetery
  • Sacramento Valley National Cemetery
  • Greenwood Cemetery (Florida)
  • National Memorial Cemetery (Arizona)

2018 Member Meeting Date Announced

Meet old friends, make new friends, and join the discussion about the California floral industry at our next CalFlowers Member Meeting, to be held in conjunction with SAF this year in Palm Springs, CA on Tuesday, September 11. (Unlike past years, there will be only one meeting, rather than 3 regional meetings.)

CalFlowers strives to create opportunities for open dialogue among members and to help your businesses thrive.  Attend to learn about CalFlowers plans for the 2018-19 year and to visit our vendors during theVendor Reception.

If you have questions, or would like to be a vendor at the Vendor Reception, please contact Monnaie Pepin @ [email protected] or by calling 970-460-9764.

More information will be released in the coming months.


CalFlowers to Refresh Strategic Plan through 2022

The CalFlowers board of directors has re-engaged AMMR, the strategic planning consultancy that helped the Association develop its highly successful strategic plan in 2014.  The target period for this refresh is the next four years, through 2022.

"As a first-year member of the board back in 2014, it was incredibly helpful to participate in strategic planning and to have a set of clear and strong priorities to direct our activities and programmatic investments for the past four years.  The entire board is excited to plan our next moves," said Ben Dobbe, president of the CalFlowers board of directors.

While the entire board, and many of our members and other industry leaders will be involved again in this planning exercise, the following current board members comprise the Strategic Planning Task Force and will direct the process:  Frank Biddle, Joost Bongaerts, Steve Dionne, Ben Dobbe, Marc Robinson and Ivor Van Wingerden.

AMMR will begin its research and interviews in June.  Following this research, expected to take three months, the board will hold a day and half retreate to incorporate learning and develop the strategic plan.  We are confident our members will be supportive of this process and contribute their input when asked.


CalFlowers Membership Dues Renewal - Deadline Approaching

A reminder to check your email as a second membership dues renewal notification was sent out on May 1.

Make payment before June 1 to retain your member benefits, which include: discounted transportation rates from FedEx, GSO, and OnTrac; your company listing in our online member directory; notification of our biennial Fun 'N Sun convention; networking opportunities within the floral community; and much more. 

Look for your membership renewal email that provides you with a convenient link at the bottom of the email with instructions on how to pay your dues invoice using your credit card. DO NOT LOG INTO THE CALFLOWERS WEBSITE TO PAY YOUR INVOICE - YOU MUST USE THE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE EMAIL THAT WAS SENT TO YOU.

If you have not received your dues renewal email or have any questions or concerns, please contact Linda Long, CalFlowers Membership Manager, at (831) 479-4912 or via email at [email protected]

(Note: To ensure that you receive the dues renewal notification emails from CalFlowers, you can whitelist [email protected] by adding it to your list of Safe Senders.  If you are not sure how to do this, please contact your company's technical support team.) 


Featured New Member of the Month

Petalfox

Petalfox is a lifestyle brand that begins with floral.  Their mission is to help others create a more intentional place to dream, make and do. Petalfox begins by making green life more accessible.  Their sole purpose is to bring the romance of flowers into everyday life.

Petalfox chooses flowers based on seasonality from the local markets and farms where they have built relationships.  Their color collections feature mostly neutral/nudes and lush/lively greens with an occasional pop of color which complement most interiors and are ideal for discreet statements.

Petalfox caters to personal spaces and curated deskscapes.  Petalfox Floral Collections are perfectly sized for a desk or at home in more intimate areas like an entry, coffee or bedside table.  They hand-select one arrangement for their weekly flower subscription which allows their customers to get, gift or skip their delivery at any time.

Click Here to learn more about Petalfox.


Transportation  

As a reminder, new shipping rates and program information for 2018 can be found on the CalFlowers website.  Rates for FedEx, GSO and OnTrac are also included.  Members can use their log-ins to access this information anytime. For questions or comments about any of our programs, please contact Chris Johnson for assistance – [email protected] or by phone (760) 533-5580.

FedEx: 

FedEx has available, at no charge, high visibility perishable stickers that members can place on boxes that are designed to help FedEx personnel identify perishable shipments.  These are NOT mandatory but are recommended as FedEx has found them to be helpful.  These high visibility colored stickers should be placed adjacent to the shipping label and only 1 sticker per box is needed. To order these colored stickers visit www.fedex.com or call FedEx at 1-800-GO FEDEX.

Also, as a reminder, did you know that FedEx has a free service that will evaluate your packaging as well as make recommendations on how to improve it?  Now you can learn the secrets of cost-conscious packaging from the pros.  With packaging resources from FedEx, successful shipping is just a phone call away at 800-633-7019 or [email protected]

GSO:

GSO has a nice informational newsletter that we recommend members sign up for.  To receive your copy of GSO’s newsletter please visit  https://www.gso.com/home/newslettersignup/

Now Available: Text Notifications for your shipment status updates.

Staying updated on your shipments has never been easier. With GSO, you can opt to receive your shipment updates via text message, so the status of your deliveries will be at your fingertips. When you prepare a shipment, you may select the types of notifications you’d like to receive, along with your preferred method of delivery (email or text), so you can stay in the know wherever you go.

A reminder that GSO services seven Western States.  Whether the destination is Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Arizona or New Mexico, GSO can get it there.  Many transit times are overnight, depending of course, on your location.

For more specific information on transit times, visit the GSO website for this handy tool: www.gso.com/shipping/transitmaps.  If you have any questions, please contact Chris Johnson directly at [email protected].

OnTrac: 

OnTrac has improved its tracking system to provide shippers more up-to-date information and visibility.  To learn more about these improvements, visit www.ontrac.com/servicesTracking.asp for all the details.

Airlines:

Check out our updated airline contact website page, a handy reference offering contact information for our California Air Cargo representatives.  Please visit www.cafgs.org 

NOTE: Transportation Rate information and documents are viewable/downloadable (as PDFs) on the CalFlowers Members Only site. Please note that these documents are considered sensitive material and are available to the primary contacts for Ag Buddy, Associate Floral, Associate Grower, and Floral members only.

To access the Members Only site, simply log in using the Member Login button in the top-right corner of our website.  

Click here if you don't know or don't remember your username and/or password.  This document will help you login. 


New Members

In April 2018, we were pleased to welcome the following new CalFlowers members:

Associate Floral

Bloem Chocolates, Flowers, Paperie
Spokane, WA

Cutts Floral Distributors
Lincoln, NE

Intergreen USA Inc.
Miami, FL

L' Atelier Rouge Inc.
New York, NY

MLA Wholesale Inc.
Bartlett, IL

The Stamina Flower Corporation
Chadds Ford, PA

  

Associate Grower

Northern Bloom Peonies
Nikiski, AK

Riverdale Farms Inc.
Miami, FL

Floral

Fleurish Floral Designs
Carmel, CA

V.T.C.
Ventura, CA
 

 

1500 41st Avenue, Suite 240 Capitola, CA 95010 | www.cafgs.org 

Ph. 831-479-4912 | Fax 831-479-4914